Sharing television and video programming through social networking

Abstract

In particular embodiments a social networking system captures data associated with video content provided to a first user of a social-networking system, identifies, using the captured data, the video content provided to the first user, and updates a graph of the social-networking system to associate the first user with the identified video content. The graph of the social-networking system has a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes. The nodes of the graph include user nodes that are each associated with a particular user of the social-networking system.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 by one or more computer systems of a social-networking system, capturing data associated with video content provided to a first user of the social-networking system, the social-networking system comprising a graph that comprises a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes, the nodes comprising user nodes that are each associated with a particular user of the social-networking system, the captured data comprising particular sounds, text, or images in the video content as heard or viewed by the first user; 
 by the one or more computer systems of the social-networking system, identifying, using the captured data, the video content provided to the first user; 
 by the one or more computer systems of the social-networking system, updating the graph of the social-networking system to associate the first user with the identified video content; 
 by the one or more computer systems of the social-networking system, generating a story according to the identified video content, the story comprising:
 an indication of the identified video content; 
 a location in which the video content was viewed by the first user; and 
 an indication of at least one other user of the social-networking system who is also viewing the identified video content when it is determined that the at least one other user is viewing the same identified video content at the same location as the first user, wherein determining that the at least one other user is viewing the same identified video content at the same location as the first user comprises comparing first environmental sounds captured by a first device of the first user with second environmental sounds captured by a second device of the at least one other user; and 
 
 by the one or more computer systems of the social-networking system, publishing the story to the social-networking system; 
 wherein updating the graph of the social-networking system comprises adding an edge between a user node of the first user and a node associated with the identified video content, the edge indicating that the first user has watched the identified video content. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein updating the graph of the social-networking system comprises adding an edge between a user node of the first user and a node associated with the identified video content. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the video content provided to the first user comprises comparing the captured data with a database of known video content. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving authorization from the first user of the social-networking system to capture the data associated with video content provided to the first user. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data associated with the video content provided to the first user comprises one or more of:
 environmental sounds captured using one or more microphones; 
 electrical interference data; 
 closed-captioning information; 
 Global Positioning System (GPS) data; 
 one or more captured images; 
 signals captured from a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable; and 
 one or more stories posted to the social-networking system. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer systems of the social-networking system comprises a dongle communicatively coupled to the social-networking system, a display device, and a content source. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the video content provided to the first user comprises video content watched by the first user. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one other user who is viewing the same identified video content at the same location as the first user is automatically determined by the one or more computer systems of the social-networking system at least in part by analyzing the social graph of the social-networking system. 
     
     
       9. A system, comprising:
 one or more memory devices; and 
 a processor communicatively coupled to the one or more memory devices, the processor operable to:
 capture data associated with video content provided to a first user of a social-networking system, the social-networking system comprising a graph that comprises a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes, the nodes comprising user nodes that are each associated with a particular user of the social-networking system, the captured data comprising particular sounds, text, or images in the video content as heard or viewed by the first user; 
 identify, using the captured data, the video content provided to the first user; 
 update the graph of the social-networking system to associate the first user with the identified video content; 
 generate a story according to the identified video content, the story comprising:
 an indication of the identified video content; 
 a location in which the video content was viewed by the first user; and 
 an indication of at least one other user of the social-networking system who is also viewing the identified video content when it is determined that the at least one other user is viewing the same identified video content at the same location as the first user, wherein determining that the at least one other user is viewing the same identified video content at the same location as the first user comprises comparing first environmental sounds captured by a first device of the first user with second environmental sounds captured by a second device of the at least one other user; and 
 
 publish the story to the social-networking system; 
 wherein updating the graph of the social-networking system comprises adding an edge between a user node of the first user and a node associated with the identified video content, the edge indicating that the first user has watched the identified video content. 
 
 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9 , the processor further operable to receive authorization from the first user of the social-networking system to capture the data associated with video content provided to the first user. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 9 , wherein the data associated with the video content provided to the first user comprises one or more of:
 environmental sounds captured using one or more microphones; 
 electrical interference data; 
 closed-captioning information; 
 Global Positioning System (GPS) data; 
 one or more captured images; 
 signals captured from a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable; and 
 one or more stories posted to the social-networking system. 
 
     
     
       12. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media in one or more computing systems, the media embodying logic that is operable when executed to:
 capture data associated with video content provided to a first user of a social-networking system, the social-networking system comprising a graph that comprises a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes, the nodes comprising user nodes that are each associated with a particular user of the social-networking system, the captured data comprising particular sounds, text, or images in the video content as heard or viewed by the first user; 
 identify, using the captured data, the video content provided to the first user; 
 update the graph of the social-networking system to associate the first user with the identified video content; 
 generate a story according to the identified video content, the story comprising:
 an indication of the identified video content; 
 a location in which the video content was viewed by the first user; and 
 an indication of at least one other user of the social-networking system who is also viewing the identified video content when it is determined that the at least one other user is viewing the same identified video content at the same location as the first user, wherein determining that the at least one other user is viewing the same identified video content at the same location as the first user comprises comparing first environmental sounds captured by a first device of the first user with second environmental sounds captured by a second device of the at least one other user; and 
 
 publish the story to the social-networking system; 
 wherein updating the graph of the social-networking system comprises adding an edge between a user node of the first user and a node associated with the identified video content, the edge indicating that the first user has watched the identified video content. 
 
     
     
       13. The media of  claim 12 , wherein the data associated with the video content provided to the first user comprises one or more of:
 environmental sounds captured using one or more microphones; 
 electrical interference data; 
 closed-captioning information; 
 Global Positioning System (GPS) data; 
 one or more captured images; 
 signals captured from a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable; and 
 one or more stories posted to the social-networking system.